1993 Mumbai blasts: Man accused of helping land RDX arrested after 24 years, sent to 12-day police custody

Jamnagar: Arrested for his alleged role in the RDX and arms landing at Gosabara coast in Porbandar for the 1993 Mumbai serial blast, Kadir Ahmad was remanded today in police custody for 12 days by a Jamnagar court.

Ahmed was handed over to local police here by the Gujarat Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS), which arrested him yesterday from Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh in a jointly operation with Uttar Pradesh ATS.

An arrest warrant had been issued against Kadir in 1995 by a TADA court after his alleged role in procuring and distributing two AK-47 was revealed, but he had been on the run for the last 24 years and was arrested yesterday.

He was handed over today to Jamnagar police in connection with an FIR lodged against him at Jamnagar city police station in 1993.

“We had sought his remand for 20 days but the court granted only 12-day remand,” Jamnagar deputy superintendent RH Jadeja said.

The police told the court that they wanted to question Ahmed’s role in distributing two AK-47 rifles with the help of other accused, Yakub Ayub Takla and Salim Kutta, both of whom were arrested earlier and put on trial.

Kadir was part of a conspiracy in which fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim had dispatched a huge cache of RDX and arms, including AK-47 rifles to Gujarat from Karachi via sea route in 1993.

The contraband had landed at Gosabara coast in Porbandar district in the state, which were then distributed to Dawood’s accomplices and other conspirators in Mumbai, Surat and several towns in Uttar Pradesh.

A conspiracy to this effect was allegedly hatched in Jamnagar, where a case under various sections of TADA, IPC, Arms Act and Explosives Act was registered.

“The police have so far arrested 45 accused in this connection, and Ahmed is the 46th accused. The remaining ones out of a total 61 accused in the case are still on the run,” Jadeja said.